Piston ring



Feb. 23 1926.

' D. M SOLENBERGER PISTON RING Original Filed April 9, 1924 l lllllllml llllwlllmllm Patented Feb. 123, 1926.

UNITED STATES :DEAN M. SOLENBERGEB, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

PATENT; oFF-i rrs'roil RING.

original application med April 9, 1924, serial No. 705,172.' 'Divided and this l192s. serial No. 83,715.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, DEAN'M. SoLENBnn een, a citizen of the vUnited States of America, residing at Kansas City, .in the county of Jackson vand State of Missouri,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piston Rings, of which the following is a specification, reference loe-l ing had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention relates to piston rings of that type provided withfstaggered circumferential series of overlapping slots which tional view through a piston and cylinder'A ,showing my improved ring in engagement therewith.

Describing the various parts by reference characters 1 denotes/a cylinder and 2 a pis- 39 ton reciprocable therein and provided with one or more circumferential grooves 3 for the reception of the sealing rings. One or more of these rings are constructed in ac'- cordance with my invention and preferably similar to` that -shown particularly in Figure 1, wherein 4 denotes the sealing ring which is provided with a plurality of up er and lower spaced overlapping circum erential slots 5. These slots are preferably so ar- 40 ranged that they define outer bars 6 and central'bars 7, said outer bars being connected at spaced intervals by solid portions 8 .to

the central bars. This arrangement perni-its the ring to be compressed longitudinally at all points so thatv when inserted in a ring groove, the lring will automatically exert a slightvpressure against the side edges of the ring groove and laccommodate itself 1 evenly to ring grooves which'are worn or of slightly' varying widths, It will be noted that outer bars are-of greater width application led January 25,

than the centre bars. By varying the length., y breadth and thickness of vthe centre bars I am enabled to controlv the longitudinal pressure exert-ed by the ring against the side edges of theI ring groove. thin centre bar as shown permits lme to ob- A relatively tain a relatively low longitudinal pressure i as willbe explained more fully hereinafter.

Also it will be noted that by providing relatively wide outer bars, the danger of breakage due to handling of the ring when ,installing the same,` isreduced t'o a minimum.

The stepped joint indicated at 10 is preferably so arranged that the circumferential line of overlap of the tongue is to onefside of the circumferential `axis of the ring so as to provide strong and' durable tongues 11. The joint as a whole isI rendered flexible by contnuingone of the slots 5 across the joint.

A ring constructed "as" described when placed. in a ring groove 3 somewhatpless inA wid'th will exert a predetermined axial pressure due to the flexing and resiliency of the comparatively thin centralbars 7 This will maintain sealing contact between the ring ,y

and the side walls of the groove. lVhat I claim as my invention is:

said ,ring .being providedwith a stepped split joint comprising 'upper and lower overlapping tongues, the slots in one sein the other series, one of the lower slots vextending circumferentially across the lower tongue to .divide said tongue into two portions, and the line of overlap of said tongues being disposed to one side of the 'circumferential axis ofthe ring.

2. A .one ieee piston ring having an upper and a ower circumferential series of slots the slots in one series being staggered with respect to those in the other series to define a series of upper, lower and intermediate bars, said intermediate bars havup er and lower bars.y v nrtestimon whereof I aiix my si D AN M. SOLENBER ERL ing a 'width substantially less than said. n

ture.

1. A one piece ring having an upper and a lower circumferential series of slots,`the

ries being staggered with respect to those. 

